Dubai eyes largest tea manufacturing facility
Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, hopes to host the largest tea manufacturing plant by 2015, as Unilever's Jebel Ali tea blending and packing facility starts expanding next year. The factory, which currently produces 1.1 million tea bags an hour every day all year round, aims to double its output in four years and become the world's largest tea production facility. According to Unilever, the Middle East tea market has undergone a major shift in the past few years, with green tea gaining a lot of awareness and popularity. And the market has huge growth potential, because per capita consumption is very high. Unilever expects the global tea market to grow by up to seven percent annually in the next few years.